Interludes: 2Visites
by Hardwing
Summary: Some gargoyles make visites to discover what is outside the walls of their home, to learn the truth, to get friends and to have a date...
1. 1Asrial

_I just want to thank the creators of DARK AGES for creating such a great background and Storyseeker for correcting my fics and helping me with great ideas, as for Worker72 and Doppleganger for their reviews._

**2.Visites**

**03.08.98; 23:49; Castle Wyvern:**

Asrial stood, fully concentrated over her new tool, working in it with her pliers in one claw and the screwdriver in the other. She just had to connect this wire with the other and...

"OUCH!" the caramel-skinned gargess exclaimed, as she jumped backwards and knocked down the stool she had sat on.

Sucking her slightly burned left claw; she stared on the machine in front of her. It was the upper arm of a robot... To be exact, it was an upper arm of one of Xanatos famous steel clan robots. This piece of human technology didn't just fascinate her because it had the appearance of her brother, but it seemed to have an endless potential of modifying.

Releasing her claw, she looked over the room that Xanatos had given her, since her old tower now served as a stockroom for some of the castle's inventory. Much to her relief and that of various other clan members, who knew of the results of her old experiments, this room was placed far away from the main living area of the castle.

In the relatively short time she inhabited it, Asrial had managed to cover most of the place with parts of TVs, PCs and other interesting machines of the human world, so that she could... mostly unsuccessful... try to create something new from them, while analyzing them.

As a little reward, she had offered Xanatos to help him with upgrading his robots, which he had accepted openly. Some of her clanmates had been against her idea because they thought that the steel clan robots could one day be used against them.

Yet Asrial had decided that when her brother and clan leader trusted that human, then she could do so as well.

Her new idea on how to improve the robots was to give larger parts of it an independent energy system, through which the robot would stay operable even when large parts of it had been destroyed, at least for a time.

Let's hope this works, Asrial thought, looking skeptically on the single upper arm of a dismantled steel clan robot version 2.

Carefully, she took up the arm again and connected its cables with the remote control she had especially modified for this case.

"Let's see if..." Asrial began, but never got an opportunity to finish this thought since the claw on the robot, extended the laser.

"Clever, sis..." the gargoyle, who had just come through the door, began but never got the opportunity to end his sentence, since a laser beam hit him in his chest and the world became dark.

**Later**

"Brother?" a soft, concerned and somehow distant voice called him. "Brother!"

"Ohhh," Thersities groaned, slowly opening his eyes, noticing that he was lying on his back, "what..."

The beautiful orange-skinned face that was revealing to him, calmed him for a moment, then he remembered what had happened.

"AHHH..." the olive-skinned warrior screamed, as he jumped up, grabbing his chest as if he had just had a heart attack.

"It is okay." Asrial tried to calm him down, not very successfully.

"OKAY?" Thersities screamed, whirling around himself as if to make sure that not just the world, but he even so was still there. "A laser hit me, I'm dead and..."

"You are not dead." his sister replied, standing up. "I used a low-energy cell for the laser. It had the intensity of a sunbeam."

Thersities stopped, slowly calming down since he sensed that his chest neither had a large hole in it, nor had it a burned spot.

"I heard sunbeams cause cancer." he noted, even when he sounded calmer now, nearly a bit ashamed of his reaction.

Asrial giggled; despite the shock she had got herself, her brother's reaction was too good.

"I think it would need more light than this to cause cancer." she told him, trying to suppress her giggles.

"Yes, by humans, but our skins are more sensitive against sunlight than theirs and..." Thersities stopped, noticing that his sister was working hard not to burst out into a new series of giggles. "Ha, Ha, Ha."

"Sorry." Asrial replied, suppressing a grin. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Well," Thersities began. "Our cook sent me to tell you that he has left some of his excellent Bolognese for you in the oven of the main kitchen."

"Oh..." Asrial exclaimed, looking up to the clock, which showed 12:13am now, far beyond the clan's usual time to gather in the great hall for a meal. "I forgot."

"Again." her brother added. "Some in the clan already fear for your weight."

Asrial absently touched her hips. She hadn't really missed that many meals, but to say that she had lost weight was... Then it hit her like a flash.

"Oh no..." she said startled. She had actually forgotten the tour to the Jefferson hall that she had planned with Lexington.

In this hall, the large hi-tech empires presented their newest prototypes to various businessmen from all parts of the industry. It was an non-public show, not to speak of gargoyles, but Xanatos had given them the access code and took care that no security man would enter the hall for two hours, starting at 01:00am.

"I mean, it isn't that I can see your bones, but..." Thersities told her.

"I have to go." she told him, running out of the room, her current project instantly forgotten.

"It's no hurry!" Thersities called after her.

Asrial didn't hear him; instead she concentrated on running through the corridors.

I forgot it, she thought, I really have to get one of those electronic timers that the humans use.

Maybe she could build something like that by herself. It shouldn't be difficult, just...

Luckily she had paid enough attention to the reality so that she could jump over the bucket filled with dirty water in the last second.

Asrial turned her head to the two shocked hatchlings, each with a wiper in their claws, who weren't happy by the idea of cleaning the floor a second time around.

"Sorry." she told them, turned around and hurried across the fresh cleaned floor.

Following the floors with the security of someone who had grown up there, Asrial soon arrived at the room she wanted to.

"I'm sorry." Asrial told Lexington, waiting in front of the door to his computer room on all his fours. "I was distracted, but we can start at once."

"Sorry, sis," Lexington began, standing up to his full high, which was still a bit lower than Asrials, "but I can't."

"Why?" she asked surprised, as based on their former talks, she had come to believe that Lexington was much more interested in visiting this show than she was.

"Well," her younger brother began "I..."

"Lex?" a soft feminine voice called to him. "I can't open this program."

Out of the room came one of Lexington's rookery sisters. She was beautiful, with orange skin, slightly blonde hair and two horns following her head backwards...

"I'm just showing Bea how to use the PC." Lexington explained, scraping his head.

"Is anything wrong?" Bea asked, sensing the sudden silence between these two.

"I just came along here and greeted him." Asrial lied, sensing what was going on and not wanting to ruin for her brother this opportunity to get close with one of his sisters. "Nothing at all."

"Okay," Bea replied and nobody knew if she actually believed this. "Lex, can you come?"

Lex nodded and followed her in, but not before throwing a last half-thankful, half-guilty look on Asrial before closing the door behind him.

Asrial sighed before going down the floor. She really would have liked to go to the hall with her younger brother, but...

I could go alone? She thought. It isn't that far...

Naturally she could, but...

But what? The voice in her asked. No time?

She had time, plenty of it, even when large parts of her wanted to go back to her workroom and finish the work... or start a new one.

Asrial put this thought away, as she could do this tomorrow night, but what Xanatos had granted them was just for one night.

It would be ungrateful not to go. She thought. Besides, my brothers and sisters seem to believe I never go out.

The decision was made and Asrial set her feet claws in the direction leading outside, when another part of her told her something else.

Okay, a snack first, she thought while holding her growling stomach.

**04.08.98; 01:16; Jefferson Hall:**

Asrial landed not very gracefully on the roof of the building.

Our old teacher would give me an extra training lesson. She thought. Who says that getting older makes things easier?

Asrial slowly massaged the point where her aching wings met on her back Maybe some further hours to practice her gliding wouldn't be that bad, at least it would keep the pains away she got by already flying small distances.

I really don't glide out enough Asrial thought guiltily while looking around.

After some seconds, she found the emergency door that Xanatos had described to them and quickly opened it, rushing in so as not to be seen by any security system that Xanatos hadn't thought of.

Following the steps downstairs, she soon discovered another door leading into the hall. The hall was dark and as far as Asrial could see, except for the various machines, there were no signs of any guards.

Still cautious, she sneaked into the hall, studying the various exhibits until one took her interest. It seemed like a mix of virtual-reality helmets and two joysticks beside a dark box.

Overwhelmed by her curiosity, Asrial activated the machinery, grabbed the joysticks and took over the helmet, happy that it just covered her eyes as her horns might have stopped her from going further.

Luckily the machinery, despite a short peep, didn't make much sounds, neither did it make any light, which could attract any attention.

What she discovered was startling. At first it seemed like endless darkness in it, then a light lit up before her eyes and Asrial realized that whatever she saw wasn't much more interesting either.

Before her virtual eyes, she could see a long black wall, slightly sparkling in the light of her lamp.

To be honest, she didn't realize what she was seeing until a friendly, masculine voice began speaking into her ear.

"Welcome..." the voice greeted and Asrial nearly made a jump in the air.

As quick as she could, she took the helmet from her head and looked around searching for the source of this voice.

"This is a..." the gargess looked down and quickly began rebuking herself.

The voice came from the headset. She thought. I should have guessed this...

Doing this was definitely more her brother's style than hers.

Carefully, she took over the helmet again, readjusting to the virtual atmosphere while grabbing the joysticks again.

"MINER 3.0." the voice continued. "This newest work of IRONSIDE is the top of the current revolution having started in the mining business. This model works in a mine near the Rocky Mountains. Please use the Joystick..."

Asrial did so and quickly managed to take over the machine, realizing that the control was designed very easily to allow even a low-tech worker to use it.

After she had put a block of coal down that she had cut out of the stone through laser-beams, on the automatic train, the automatic voice asked her if she wished to continue. Asrial denied this by placing the headset back on the table, through which the whole system somehow shut down.

Not very interesting, she thought, as she looked over the papers lying on the table...

"MINER 3.0... Mining-robot... Automatic program on demand... Works at over 200C°..." Asrial was about to turn around and continue her tour when she read the last part. "IRONSIDE (Part of the Nightstone Unlimited Group.)"

She had to read it twice until she believed it, then she shrugged her shoulders. She probably had to congratulate her sister for this.

Asrial walked further around, looking here and there, investigating the newest super-fast internet-server from Cyberbiotics, and going over the power suits from Xanatos Enterprises. She mostly ignored them since she knew that Xanatos always left his newest developments for his own battle suit and robots, to give enemies not a possible advantage.

Small microscopes going deeper into the existences of things that Asrial had never dreamed of. Laser-based 3 dimensional pictures , models of aircraft's flying with sonic speed on regular basis. Artificial gems used as memory chips...

Little brother, you will become so jealous when I tell you of this. Asrial thought while walking further. This...

Suddenly, her sensitive gargoyle ears sensed something and when she turned around, Asrial discovered the door, straight down the room through which she had entered, slowly open.

Trained reflects made her jump between two stalls before the door was even half-open and she had turned around, looking to the door before it was fully open. Two guardsmen, of the sort that Xanatos had said wouldn't come, came out of it looking around.

"I told you there was something wrong." The first guard told the second one.

"There is nothing here." Guard B replied, looking into the darkness.

"We'll see." Guard A told him, drawing his pistol and slowly beginning to walk down the floor

Guard B sighed, but drew his weapon and went over the floor. Asrial was just turning around, trying to find a place to hide when she noticed that she had left the light on the last booth. It was a little light, but when one of the guards noticed it...

Time to go. Asrial thought while turning around. I...

She stared into two wide eyes staring directly into hers.

"Ähmm..." a man around his thirties, with wide mild blue eyes, short blonde hair that was full of gel, began, "...hello?"

"Who are you?" Asrial asked him, working hard not to scream with surprise and before he could say anything, she had a second question coming into her mind "What are you doing here?"

"I..." the man swallowed and Asrial got time to study him.

He wore a black jacket with gray jeans and worn-out jogging shoes, on his back he wore an even so worn-out bag.

"Are you a thief?" she asked him, her voice sounding harsher than she had intended it to, especially since her right to be here was more than doubtful.

"No!" he exclaimed fast, and for her ears much too loud.

As fast as he could, he lay down his bag and opened it, showing the contents, being made of a camera, some paper and a laptop. Asrial looked up again, looking into his face and seeing nothing, but a somewhat scared and harmless young man.

"How did you..." Asrial began.

"Hey," Guard A called his comrade. "Here is something."

The gargess decided to satisfy her questions later and to concentrate now on escaping.

"Can you escape alone?" Asrial asked while slowly crawling on all her fours around the man, looking for the guard on the other floor.

"No..." he explained, taking his bag back on his shoulder. "The guards are blocking it."

Asrial noticed that Guard B was distracted by looking into the direction of his comrade and took this chance.

"Follow me!" she whispered to her newly found companion, not wanting to let him be captured by the guards either.

Faster than any human could, she raced on all her fours through the open floor, vanishing quickly behind the next booth. Asrial was going to look around, seeing how her companion was doing when she heard someone screaming.

"Hey." Guard B screamed. "Stop!"

A quick look over her shoulder showed Asrial that the man had no intention to do so.

"Come on, hurry!" she whispered to him and ran in a speed that she knew the man could hold, to the emergency door.

Reaching the door and opening it, she saw that her companion wasn't far behind and ran into the door without asking anything.

I hope I know what I'm doing. Asrial thought

Some meters behind them, Guard B reached the emergency door, believing to see it closing.

Fast, but not running, he approached it, waiting on his comrade to let him cover him if necessary. Reaching the door, he looked to Guard A, who nodded and slowly opened the door, just to enter the room with a jump.

Quickly, Guard B made a 360° look around while Guard A rushed after him, then he looked up seeing... or believing to see the door at the top of the stairs close. Racing up the stairs, Guard B got enough time to ask himself what he had seen... Was it a man, or a shadow?

Whatever it was, he would know soon.

As fast as he could, he opened the door and jumped on the roof.

There was nothing.

The fire escape, it crossed his mind and raced to the ladder, looking down... and finding nothing.

"Where is he?" Guard A asked, coming by his side and looking down the ladder like he did.

"There probably wasn't been anything after all." Guard B told him, placing his gun back in his belt.

"But the light." Guard A insisted. "And didn't you see something?"

"They might simply have forgotten to put out the light." Guard B replied, angry about chasing shadows in the night, taking his eyes back from the ladder to his comrade. "And what I saw... If there truly had been a man then we would have him, wouldn't we?"

Guard A frowned, but finally put his gun back in his belt. "Right."

**04.08.98; 03:01; Brooklyn, Blocks away from the Jefferson Hall:**

"Ahhhh..." The man screamed, hanging in Asrial arms while his legs dangled over fifty meters about nothing, but air.

"Be quiet, you'll attract attention." Asrial told him, hoping not to be seen by any humans on the street. "I won't let you fall."

The gargess deeply hoped that she spoke the truth. This human was heavier than she guessed him to be and when she had jumped over the roof with him, she had gained much weight that she had feared to land very hard on the street.

Luckily she had caught an updraft and was able to stabilize her glide... somehow.

"Can you land there?" the man asked after some time. "This is my home."

Asrial looked down on the roof of a seemingly empty and slowly decreasing building, and nodded, gliding deeper in a circle down on the roof. Finally she was low enough to release the man from her arms so that he could jump on the roof while Asrial made a final circle, landing on all fours just one meter away from the man.

Standing up, she noticed that the man was standing in front of her, studying her with unhidden awe.

"That was great." he told her.

"Really?" Asrial asked him, stretching and massaging her aching wings and imagining what her teacher would have said to this... Four additional gliding lessons at least, most likely.

"Yes!" the man exclaimed, excited. "I mean, I already saw some gargoyles gliding on the television, but this... How you glided down to the earth first, to not let the guards see us..."

Asrial nodded, accepting the unearned praise, even though she disliked the way this man talked about her. He spoke, as if it was something special to see a gargoyle gliding, but it wasn't... It shouldn't be.

"So what were you doing in the hall if you weren't trying to steal something." Asrial demanded to know.

"I was just looking around." the man told her. "Those shows aren't open for normal folks like me."

Asrial nodded, making her wings stretch one final time before mantling them around her body.

"Same for me," she told him. "I don't think going there openly would be a very happy event."

Now it was time for the man to nod and for a second, Asrial believed to see a harder, more serious look in the man's blue eyes, before it lit up, seemingly getting an idea.

"You are interested in High Tech?" he asked her surprised. "I have never heard that gargoyles were interested in such."

Asrial shrugged her shoulders.

"Not many of us do." she admitted with slight frustration in her voice. "Maybe four in my clan are truly interested in it."

The man nodded and an unpleasant silence followed, since neither of them knew what to say.

"Oh, I forgot...Thomas Carter." the man began. "My name.."

"Asrial." Asrial replied, extending a claw.

Thomas slowly took her claw and shook it, even though cautiously, as if he would be able to crush her hand not the other way around.

"A beautiful name." Thomas noted.

"Thanks," the gargess told him. "I chose it after a counsel with my brothers some months ago."

"When you arrived here?" Thomas asked. "I heard that some of your kind have no name."

"Yes." Asrial said, feeling a bit bad about lying to him, even when it was just a half lie.

To cover the arrival of so many gargoyles, Goliath had told the public authorities that a small part of the clan had already been living in New York before the others came. In the years since then, when they had achieved a somewhat public acceptance, the rest had come with them since their old home was no longer save. This was a lie, a lie Goliath hadn't found easy to tell, but in the end it was better then the supposed to be dead, but rescued by a magical, time-interpreting-talisman story... much better.

"Most of my clan's elders have none," she added. "Like some other clans."

Asrial bit her tongue, as no one of her clan was supposed to talk about the other clans, at least as long as none of them was willing to reveal themselves.

"I don't think it is necessary for your kind to adjust to the human world." Thomas told her and Asrial believed to see a little sparkle in his eyes. "At least, not if you don't want."

"Oh, we want to." Asrial assured him. "We are a very large clan and... Most of us thought it was time for this."

Thomas nodded, seemingly satisfied by this and the sparkle Asrial had believed to see in his eyes was no more.

"Do you want to come in?" he asked, turning half around so that she could see the dark windows of his balcony.

Asrial hesitated, as she didn't know this human, even though he seemed friendly. Not just Goliath, but the others had warned her that they had to be cautious in this new world. The clan had...

The clan, Asrial thought, oh no.

"What time is it?" she wanted to know from him.

"03:26." Thomas told her, checking his wristwatch.

"I have to go," Asrial told him, jumping to the border of the roof. "My clan will be worried about me."

"Wait." Thomas begged. "Can I meet you again?"

Asrial looked back on the human. Could she trust him? Their leader told them that they had to be part of this world to be accepted.

"This time, next week?" she asked him, using the first date she got in mind. "Here at midnight?"

Thomas nodded.

"Sounds great." he replied smiling. "Good night."

"Even so." Asrial replied, smiling back on him before jumping from the roof and vanishing fast into the night.

**04.08.98; 3:51; Castle Wyvern:**

Asrial could see her brother and clan leader standing at his perch on the highest tower already in some distance and such she decided to land there. After a quick a circle and a landing, which was definitely the most graceful of this night.

"Brother." she greeted him, standing on the perch beside him.

"Sister." Goliath replied, looking a bit surprised. "I thought you were out with Lexington?"

"Our little brother was occupied elsewhere." Asrial explained. "So I went alone."

Goliath stood up to his full high, looking perplexed.

"Alone?" he asked.

"You sound as if you wouldn't believe that I could glide alone?" Asrial noticed, sounding a bit offended.

"No," Goliath told her. "I was just worried..."

Asrial smiled, showing that she indeed wasn't angry with him since she knew he was always worried about her, which was another reason why she liked him.

"You stayed out long." Goliath told her. "I thought Xanatos gave you just two hours there."

"Yes," she admitted, "but it was interesting, so I decided to make a glide over the city... I haven't seen much of it yet."

Goliath nodded. His sister was indeed so occupied in exploring the technology of this new time that she forgot that there was a new world to explore.

Asrial meanwhile had turned around, looking down to the courtyard. There were some of the clan's hatchlings, with Darlene's own, playing something between football and soccer. Some of the clan elder's watched them without true interest, standing in the courtyard talking. While on the battlements, other members of the clan of various ages stood around, talking, laughing or simply studying the city. Asrial watched how a nameless, Demona's former second, arrived and was welcomed back by some of his closer clan-mates.

"I met a human." Asrial revealed, slowly turning back to her brother. "Thomas Carter.... he seemed nice."

"You know that I told you and the rest of the clan to be careful about the humans..." Goliath told her in his usual calm voice, not showing if he was displeased or worried. "Most may become our friends, but some can't be trusted."

Asrial nodded. Sure she knew, especially since she learned of the various hard encounters the clan had made.

"I think I _can_ trust him." she told Goliath, even when she wasn't so sure herself. "At least so far that I meet him again."

"When?" Goliath asked her in his usual stoic voice, but since Asrial knew him literally since the night they had hatched, she noticed the curiosity in him.

"In a week." she answered, jumping from the battlement onto the floor.

Goliath grumbled slightly, closing his eyes.

"I trust your judgment, sister," he finally noted. "But for your safety, I ask you to take at least one clan member with you when you visit this human."

Asrial nodded.

"I will." she promised, turning around and beginning to walk down the steps. "Goodnight, brother."

"Good night, dear sister." Goliath replied, looking after Asrial until she vanished in the tower and then turning back to the gargoyles in the courtyard and the fabulous view over the night in New York, watching and protecting as much as he could.


	2. 2Nameless

**04.08.98; 00:03; Building before Destine Manson:**

The gargoyle landed on the building before the Destine Manson and quickly hid in the shadows of the roof. He waited, something he could do rather well since he had done so in the last six months.

After some minutes, he got what he had waited for. Three shapes of gargoyles, an adult, a young one and a hatchling soared through the sky. The adult had an even younger hatchling, an infant in human terms, in her arms. This was something the spectator didn't see, but knew.

He waited some seconds until the shapes of gargoyles had vanished into the night, just before the hatchling made a not perfect, but brave salto in the air, before he jumped from the roof, slowly gliding to the mansion before him.

Landing perfectly at the glass door to the living room, he slowly opened the door and went in, trying not to make a sound while he closed it. When he paid full attention to the room, he noticed a scarred gargbeast, Shade, coming from the floor and looking at him.

He extended a claw, low to the ground, to let her come and touch him and greet him, but Shade wasn't interested in greetings and just sat down beside the couch, watching him carefully.

From the stairs he could hear the footsteps of the beast's master and friend.

"So many years," he noticed, "so many years and she still doesn't trust me."

Demona had come down the steps, as she had seen her guest's arrival through the monitor of the security system she had activated, knowing that her nightly gliding through the city with Shade would be delayed this night.

The immortal looked at her former second thoughtfully, as games weren't his style, but she decided to join him.

"It's her nature," she explained.

Both starred in each other's eyes for some seconds.

"I knew you would come." Demona said finally. "It was just a matter of time."

Her former second nodded, a matter of time indeed.

"Come sit down..." Demona told the gargoyle in front of her coldly. "There is much to talk about."

Nameless nodded, and sat down on the couch before her.

**24.08.1057; 20:12; Scotland, battlefields of Moray:**

The battle, which had taken place there a night before, was over. The armies had abandoned it, leaving a landscape full of dead soldiers from both sides, having found their last resting place near from dead horses and abandoned weapons.

Just some ravens watched over this field of death, having a meal on the dead bodies as if to show whom truly was the winner of this battle, while seemingly revealing the lowering sun.

Suddenly their meal was disturbed when a ball of fire appeared in the middle of the battlefield and they showed their indignation over the disturbance through flying up and croaking loudly.

Demona, appearing out of the flames, quickly looked around, sensing neither human nor gargoyles around her, just the smell of death as she had expected.

The most humans had fled weeks ago and most of who had stayed had surely chosen to go with Luach's army after the fall of Moray and the gargoyles... Well her clan and most likely the last gargoyle clan of Scotland were dead and she, her former self, was heading south.

The immortal looked to the statue she had taken with herself and studied it. It was her second... her former second of Moray. He, like her, had lost all his clan from a massacre by the humans and he was the one who was the first to be with her... the first of her new clan.

Cracks showed in his skin while Demona felt the sun going under, from behind her back and with the arrival of darkness he freed himself of his stone skin, greeting the night with a roar.

Surprised, he looked around, sensing that he definitely was in another place than he had been before the last sunrise, it was a battlefield and before him stood his leader.

"Leader, where are we?" he asked and seeing into her eyes he added quickly, even though calm. "Where is the rest of the clan?"

"Dead." Demona simply said and saw how her second's eyes grew wide, how he stumbled a bit. "At least, this is what I thought at this time."

"What do you mean?" he wanted to know.

"We are two days after the fall of Moray. Canmore betrayed us and smashed you and the others while you slept." she saw in his serious face and smiled satisfied. "Or at least this is what he thought so..." Demona explained, showing the Phoenix Gate on her belt. "This talisman, which brought us here, enabled me to save the clan."

Silence.

"Now there is something I ask of you... order you to do, for I will no longer be leader of this clan so or so." she stared at him, searching for any reaction, but there was none. "You will wake up next time at another place and another time. There will be the clan I had before, the Wyvern clan that the Vikings destroyed years ago... You have to merge your clan with theirs, for the safety of all its members... including the eggs."

Still her second looked at her, serious but not speaking and like so many times before, Demona wished just once to have a spell to be able to read his mind. He had always been loyal, even when they had different ideas sometimes, especially about the humans, but if he wouldn't follow her in this...

"The clan will wish an explanation," he said, "as do I."

"You can't tell the clan about this now," Demona insisted forcefully, "not without risking its safety." she bit her lips. "There is a danger far greater than the English or Canmore, but this can at least give you a chance. Trust me."

By these words, her second slowly looked around, staring at the corpses of dead soldiers slowly decaying... soldiers he once fought with.

"These men trusted you too," he noticed, looking back on her "As did the clan when you said that we would be safe."

Demona's eyes stayed cold, even when these words hit her.

"Macbeth wanted to betray us to the English." she nearly snarled. "There was no other way."

Her second studied her for some more seconds, until he nodded.

"I will do as you wish," he told her. "But someday, I will want an explanation."

Demona nodded, stepping closer to him and grabbing the Phoenix Gate at her belt.

"You will get it..." she told him "...in time."

"Deflegrate muri tempi et intervallia."

With this the two gargoyles left, only seen by some creature of the night and the ravens that quickly returned to their meal.

**04.08.98; 01:19; Destine Manson, Living Room:**

"...and that was it." Demona ended her story. "Lucifia is dead, the threat gone and I will leave the city soon."

Nameless looked at her, thinking about it.

"Will you tell this to the others?" the immortal wanted to know, stroking Shade who had sat down beside her.

"It would be betrayal to my new leader if I wouldn't tell him at least." he noticed.

"Not for me." Demona told him, slowly shaking her head, but never taking his eyes from his.

"I know." Nameless replied while he rose from the couch, without accusation or any malice in his eyes.

Yet, the eyes of his former leader turned red for a short time, while Shade decided to rise.

Nameless didn't react on this, but went to the glass door and opened it, and then he decided to turn around to Demona again.

"You held your word, Demona." He explained. "But about Wyvern..."

"It was betrayal." she told him icily "My betrayal and you know why I couldn't tell you."

Nameless nodded, wordlessly turning around, closing the door from behind and climbing up the wall of the mansion, starting from it into the sky of this ever bright city.

He didn't feel the weight of his breastplate tonight; neither did he feel much of the wind tearing at his old bones. All he did was think... searching for the right decision between the loyalty to his old clan leader and his new one.

**04.08.98; 3:58; Near Castle Wyvern:**

Nameless first discovered where he was heading when he could see the gargoyles standing on the battlements and saw various others gliding around it.

Coming nearer, he made a decision.

"Brother." a gargoyle who resembled Connor in a way too much noticed. "Where were you?"

Demona's former second looked up to the highest tower, seeing his leader talking with one of his rookery sisters who had long orange hair with two long horns.

He has never betrayed us, lied to us he thought, he deserves our loyalty much more than she ever has.

"Just gliding around," he lied, looking his brother straight in his eyes and then to the other gargoyles standing around, "exploring the city."

A decision had been made.


	3. 3Asrial2

**11.08.98; 21:35; Castle Wyvern, some floors:**

Asrial walked slowly through the floors of her home, sensing that it was indeed not the best atmosphere this night. To be honest, the atmosphere during the invasion of the Vikings had been better.

And it was an invasion, even when just carried out by one gargoyle.

She passed the great hall, seeing some clan members sitting around, talking, playing games... waiting. Even the gargbeasts lay around unhappy.

Asrial moved on, concentrating on her current problem. It wasn't just the fact that she had promised Goliath to go with someone to her meeting, but as leader he had given order to the whole clan that they should all leave the castle in pairs at least.

A pair means two, she thought, but who would come with me?

The gargess looked ahead, seeing two hatchlings chasing each other and passing her, without truly noticing neither her nor the other adult clan members on the floor.

"Sorry," she heard a female voice saying, "maybe another night."

"Okay," a depressed male voice replied, "another night."

When Asrial looked up, she discovered Thersities ending his talk with Desdemona who turned around and left in another direction, leaving her brother behind.

"What was that about?" Asrial asked her brother who had leaned at the wall.

Thersities sighed.

"Oh nothing, just the end of my love-life." he explained frustrated.

On the unbelieving look he got from his sister, he continued.

"I wanted to visit Darlene and say hello." Thersities revealed. "But finding someone to accompany me is harder than escaping one of our teacher's trainings lessons ever was."

Asrial nodded, as she knew that he had problems not because that most of the clan was occupied, but that the home of their renegade sister was a place most of the clan didn't want to go for a visit by free will.

To be honest, it wasn't her favorite place either, but...

"I could come with you." Asrial offered to her brother.

"That would be great." Thersities said, moving closer to her.

"If you would come with me first," she added.

"Where to?" Thersities wanted to know.

**11.08.98; 22:12; Somewhere about Brooklyn:**

"And you promise that it won't be long?" Thersities asked his sister... again.

"I told you yes!" Asrial replied, slightly stressed. "Now please be quiet, I have to concentrate on finding the house."

The gargess concentrated back on the streets and blocks below her. This would be much easier if she had kept a better eye on the streets when she came from here last week.

At least she could glide to here, something she hadn't thought to be possible when she had first told Goliath about whom she had chosen as a companion... but in the end he gave in.

He really cares for Darlene, Asrial thought, taking a short look at her following brother, else he wouldn't take a step into the courtyard by the danger that Lucifia represents.

She sighed, studying the houses and finally discovered what she had searched for.

"There!" she exclaimed, aiming with one claw on the house below while beginning to descend.

"Finally." Thersities noted, landing beside her. "I thought we were ready to leave New York."

Asrial didn't comment on this, but looked around in the direction of the windows, partly broken and covered by old pages from newspapers.

"Looks abandoned here." Thersities continued. "More like one of these creepy caves back in Wyvern."

Before Asrial could comment this, one of the doors opened.

"It should." Thomas told them, coming out of the building. "Not everyone can tell that someone lives here."

Asrial smiled gently, extending a claw that Thomas took, this time without hesitation.

"It's great that you had time." she told him and added, showing to her brother. "This is my rookery brother, Thersities."

Thomas shook the gargoyle's claw as easily like he had his sisters, and smiled.

"What brings me this honor?" he asked.

"We're making another visit tonight." Asrial explained and then stopped, looking into the human's eyes, knowing she had no reason to lie to him. "And our leader has ordered it."

"Oh." Thomas replied, sounding slightly disappointed.

"It isn't because of you." Asrial said. "The leader is simply worried about us and there is another... danger, so we are only allowed to leave the castle in couples."

Thomas nodded and judging from his former statements, Asrial guessed he thought that a human group was threatening them. She was going to tell him that this wasn't true when Thomas gave them a smile.

"Why don't we go in?" he offered with a hand extended into the direction of the entrance.

Asrial nodded and went with him, while Thersities hesitated a second and then followed them, hoping that this wouldn't take too long.

When Asrial walked through the door, she noticed that this was indeed not the entrance to the house, but just hid the true entrance, a massive open steel door.

For one moment she asked herself if this was a trap, but then she caught a view in the room and overcame herself.

Stepping in, she had to admit that what she saw was magnificent. She hadn't directly entered the room, but the beginning of an open iron spiral staircase, allowing the view about one large room, illuminated by a modern looking chandelier.

The room looked to be all in one.

Asrial could see a couch, serving as a bed, and in one corner she noticed a sink unit beside a cooker inclusive a microwave. Some book shelves stood a bit away of what was seemingly the workroom, consisting out of two PC monitors and three PC boxes of which one was half deconstructed while the other two seemed linked.

"Wow." Asrial exclaimed, still standing at the banister and staring down.

"You like it?" Thomas asked, his voice sounding more than a bit shy.

"It's great!" Asrial answered, giving him a smile, which made Thomas look slightly embarrassed.

"Looks like your own work room, sister." Thersities, who had come behind them, noticed.

Asrial thought that this might be correct, but just on the first look. For one thing, there lay some empty pizza bags, and some bags of Chinese food around on various tables. In the sink, were some empty dishes and the floor seemed as if it hadn't been cleaned for at least a year.

There were similarities, except the fact that she didn't live in her working room, showing in the part of the room, spreading around his computers. There seemed to be incomplete constructions too, but far less than she had lying around in her room.

The constructions themselves didn't seem abandoned like most of hers did, but indeed seemed near their conclusion, even when Asrial couldn't say on the first look what their purpose was.

"Let's go down." Thomas told his guests after he had left them time to study the room.

Asrial and Thersities nodded, following him down the stairs.

"I know it is a bit disorderly," he explained. "I'm not really used to having guests."

"It's okay," Asrial said, walking over an empty pizza bag. "My room in the castle is much worse."

Thomas nodded, but Asrial wasn't quite sure if he believed this or just thought it was an empty phrase.

Maybe if I show him my room? Asrial thought, but then rejected it. The clan wouldn't allow this... at least not yet.

Meanwhile, they had reached the part of the room serving as a workplace and Asrial noticed a poster about one of the monitors, showing the Pit-logo of a gargoyle claw and a human hand shaking each other.

"Here I earn my money." Thomas revealed, extending his arms. "At least the largest part of it."

"Nice," Asrial noticed while looking around. The machines weren't as good as what Xanatos offered her, but impressive nevertheless. "Do you earn your money by selling these?"

Thomas shook his head, even when it seemed a bit hesitating for Asrial.

"No, at least not yet." he explained. "They are mostly a hobby..."

He took up one of his inventions, which seemed like a glove on which he had planted a small laser. The laser was linked with some sort of chip, which in return had a cable hanging loose on its end.

Thomas fixed this cable, now on a PC monitor that he activated, and then pulled the glove on his right hand.

He activated the laser, which began to shine and ducked the cup in front of it in a blue light. Much to Asrial's surprise, an image of the part of the buck that the laser had shone over, appeared on the monitor and became more clearer when Thomas moved the glove, letting the laser touch more and more of the cup while going over and behind it.

When Thomas pushed a button on the glove, the laser disappeared. Asrial didn't notice this since she was staring on the monitor where a 3-dimensional model of the original cup had appeared, being without colors, but still clear.

Thomas pushed another button of his glove and held it, while moving his glove and so let the virtual cup move around in the same way.

"I finished the hard disc and the energy cell to make it mobile yesterday," he explained. "I even thought of installing a little camera to show some colors, but the extra need of energy would restrict its operation time too much."

Asrial nodded.

"How much data can this one save?" she wanted to know.

"It could save this room." Thomas explained proudly. "At least the largest part of it, but the energy supply is still critical and..."

Thersities looked at the human and his sister, not even understanding of the things they were talking about.

Gigabytes? Ram? Functional system?

Knowing very well that he was forgotten, he rose from the chair he had sat down on, and looked around.

I hope I will get to Darlene before the sun rises. The gargoyle hoped and slowly moved into the directions of the bookshelves.

"This is great." Asrial concluded.

"But it wasn't my idea." Thomas revealed. "I learned that Nightstone is testing a machine of this sort, so I decided to try it myself."

He turned around, activating the PC and then turned back to her while the PC turned up.

"But mainly I write programs." Thomas said, offering Asrial a chair beside his own. "Either programs I have made special for the buyer, or programs I offer on my website."

Asrial, who had listened interested, sat down on the chair; most of her clan would be surprised at how long she could be so focused on someone.

"So you are an independent programmer," she noticed.

Thomas nodded, while entering a password as the main-desktop appeared, having the picture of a gargoyle, flying in front of the moon, as a background picture.

But this was just random for Asrial, since a look in Thomas's eyes showed her that there seemed to something bothering him.

"What is it?" she asked.

Thomas sighed.

"See, when I told you that I wasn't a thief, then it wasn't correct," he explained and Asrial stared on him.

"What?" she asked unbelieving, standing up from her chair.

Have I truly been so wrong with him? Asrial asked herself, remembering Lex's story about the Pack.

"I wasn't going to steal anything." he defended himself, even if he sounded weak. "I just should manipulate the MINER robot you studied first."

Asrial stared on him, in her shock not registering the fact that he had been there the whole time without her noticing it.

"Why?" she asked, her voice being less loud, but much more disappointed than before.

"Such robots will cost many miners their work and will just make some CEO's richer," he explained "So when labor union came to me and offered me money for this, I agreed."

"And this is what you do?" Asrial asked, feeling somehow disgusted by the idea that this man might be a simple thief.

"No," he answered dejected. "Mostly I crack codes or write programs to let my client protect their systems before other hackers."

Asrial hesitated a second, taking a quick look to Thersities who looked down on a half eaten pizza lying on a desk, seemingly not hearing anything.

"You know my clan fights against such crimes," she told him.

Thomas nodded.

"I know, but I had to tell you." he looked up to her eyes. "I like you."

Asrial looked in his mild blue eyes and decided to give him a second chance. Sure, her clan wouldn't like this, but he had told the truth when he hadn't had to.

"If I shall visit you again," the gargess began. "I have to know that you don't stand on the other side of the law."

Thomas nodded.

"I will just sell defense-programs from now on," he promised eagerly, "as I promise to choose my clients by higher... standards."

Asrial slowly sat back on the chair.

"Thank you for telling me this." she told him, giving him a warm smile. "I knew this was hard."

Thomas replied, while he tried to smile even so, but it was weaker and much more insecure, as if he didn't know if this gargess had truly forgiven him.

Thersities meanwhile had turned to the bookshelves, studying them. The books were not his style, consisting mainly on books about PC's and topic related books. Just some were about endangered species and three about gargoyles, written by humans who had no idea about the gargoyle's true history and so were merely restricted by repeating old, and mostly wrong, legends about his race.

Maybe I can ask him to let me watch TV?

While Thersities thought, he noticed something hidden under a black cloth.

Looks like a box, he thought, what is he hiding there?

After a little fight with himself, the curiosity got the best of the gargoyle and he looked around, noticing less surprising that his sister and Thomas were still talking to each other, not even thinking on him.

Carefully he approached the covered box with his face until his beak nearly touched the cloth, then he lifted it a bit.... and a monster jumped onto his face.

"Ahhh." he screamed, jumping backwards, stumbling over a table, knocking some pizza-boxes and finally falling on the couch.

Feeling paralyzed, Thersities just stared on the monster. Luckily there had been glass between him and it, but still the monster looked at him through the box, its upper parts rose up threatening, showing it large teeth.

"Brother?" Asrial called to him worriedly. "What happened?!"

Thersities pointed on the monster living in the glass box between Thomas's books.

"..." He tried unsuccessfully to speak.

"Oh this." Thomas noticed with a smile, stepping closer to the terrarium and opening it, letting the spider slowly crawl onto his hand. "This is Terry, my bird-spider."

He approached the frightened gargoyle, his hand extended to give Thersities a better look on the spider on it, resulting in that the gargoyle sank more in the couch.

"She is tame." Thomas explained. "And even if not, her poison isn't strong enough to harm humans... or gargoyles."

Thersities didn't respond, but stared on the spider until Asrial sighed.

"He has a bit of a phobia in regards of spiders." she explained while Thomas placed the spider back in her terrarium.

"I don't have a phobia." Thersities defended himself while he slowly got some more color on his beak. "I just don't like spiders.... their long hairy arms, their eyes..."

The gargoyle shuddered and stopped his explanation. Asrial meanwhile laid a hand on his shoulder, smiling softly, understanding, even when she didn't share her brother's fears.

"Well," Thomas began, taking up some pizza boxes lying on the floor. "What about something to eat? I have some orange juice in the refrigerator and I could order some pizzas or stuff."

Asrial looked at her brother, who didn't look as if he would be very hungry now and she herself had eaten before.

"The juice will be enough." she explained. "We ate back at the castle."

Thomas nodded and went into the part of the room, which served as kitchen, while Asrial sat beside Thersities.

A good start the clever sister thought ironically.

**12.08.98; 01:23; air about Thomas's house:**

When Asrial jumped in the air, turning around one last time to wave her claws to say goodbye to Thomas, Thersities groaned.

It's okay to spent time with this human... but three hours???

Asrial approached him, a wide spread grin on her face.

"This was great!" she noticed, flying beside him.

"Yeah?" he asked in return, taking a look over his shoulder and noticing that Thomas was still looking after them.

Asrial stayed silent for some minutes, seemingly concentrating on the ground below her, maybe counting the cars.

"When I and Thomas sat at the PC," she began, not looking to him, "did you hear about what he talked?"

Thersities shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, you mean the part where he talked about that he is a thief, a criminal hacker and a saboteur?" he asked. "Mhhh... no?"

Asrial winced.

"Could you please not mention this before the leader?" she asked him. "I mean, I will tell him... later, but now he has other worries and doesn't need to think about this too."

"Okay, okay..." Thersities replied. "But can we now glide to **my** date tonight?"

"Thank you." Asrial replied, gliding closer to him and giving her rookery brother a kiss on his beak, which let his cheeks become slightly red.


	4. 4Thersities

**12.08.98; 02:16; Destine Mansion:**

Thersities was the first to land before the entrance to the mansion's living room. He heard his sister landing behind him, but was already fully concentrated on what he saw through the glass-panorama.

In the room, Lana sat on the floor, helping her baby sister Gem to play with blocks and some other toys. Thersities was going to knock, when Gem discovered them, gulped happily and extended her little arms to them.

Lana's reaction, after following Gem's eyes and discovering the two gargoyles, wasn't so happy. For a moment, Thersities believed to hear a slight groan, but then Lana winked them in as she stood up.

"Hello." Asrial greeted her.

"Hi." Thersities continued.

"Hello." Lana told them, less enthusiastic.

What do they want? Lana asked herself since she had never seen these ones hanging around with her grandma. If I have two new admirers, then one is definitely too old and the other is of the wrong gender.

"Lana?" a voice, which Asrial recognized as Darlene's called out of a room she believed to be the kitchen. "I thought I heard...."

This was when her mother came in, discovering their guests.

"Oh, hello!" she greeted them. "I didn't expect guests tonight."

"We visited someone else tonight and you were on the way back," Thersities explained grinning all over his face, "so here we are."

Darlene replied this with a smile, knowing for sure that both of them were not just here because of this, if it played a role at all.

"Weren't you worried because of Lucifia?" she asked them.

"Worried?" Thersities asked, as if he was embarrassed. "Ha, we face death every night, a nasty evil gargoyle won't stop us. We even faced a clan once!"

Asrial stared at her brother's back. Every one of her clan, not to speak of her rookery siblings, would have laughed by these words and even she had to work hard not to giggle, especially when she thought about the little spider incident this evening.

"A-hem." someone coughed from direction of the floor and when Asrial looked to it, she discovered her sister standing there, Shade by her side.

"Mother, look who has come for a visit." Darlene told her smiling.

Demona was not smiling when she looked at the visitors, not a bit.

"Hello, sister." Thersities told her, waving a claw while grinning.

"Hello." Asrial said politely, even when not half as enthusiastically as her brother.

The immortal greeted them back with a nod, just to turn immediately to her daughter who was less than pleased with her mother's _warm_ greeting.

"I have finished the magic lesson with Jarred." She explained to her while Shade left her side, taking scent of the guests. "He is up in his room."

Darlene nodded.

Meanwhile, Gem had decided to greet the guests by herself and had crawled to Thersities feet claws, now drawing up to his legs.

"And what do you want, little one?" he asked the infant while taking her up.

Gem gulped and stared interested at the two different horns growing out of the gargoyle's head, until she gave him a yawn and placed her little head on his shoulder tiredly.

"It is time for her evening nap." Darlene told Thersities. "I better bring her up."

When Darlene tried to take her little daughter from the gargoyle's arms, Gem was only half-asleep, and began to whimper.

"On second thought," Darlene concluded after she had given up trying to take her daughter. "Would you mind bringing her with you upstairs, so that I can take her to bed?"

Thersities grinned over his beak while he nodded to Darlene, showing that this was definitely no problem for him.

We are having some problems tonight... Darlene thought, looking to her mother and then to her other guest.

"Mom, why don't you show your sister your lab?" she suggested.

Demona stared at the daughter, hatched from her last laid egg, as if she had suggested her to dance the flamenco, but Darlene's face stayed nice... and hard behind this niceness.

Finally, Demona looked to her sister, her face now not as hard as when she had first entered, not even a bit as surprised as before.

"If you like." she offered in a neutral tone.

Asrial saw in her sister's green eyes that she wasn't very interested in leading her around, and neither was she. But then she made a look to her brother, who definitely wanted to be alone with Darlene and after what he had done for her tonight...

"Sure," Asrial told her sister. "Lead the way."

Demona nodded and began to follow her daughter and Thersities upstairs. Asrial followed her on the tail, just to stop at the beginning of the stairs to look back to Lana and Shade who had somehow been ignored.

But Lana seemingly didn't mind that and had sat on the couch to read one of her lifestyle magazines in the middle of spread baby toys. Shade didn't mind even so, as she lay down in front of Lana, moving aside some toys and watching her.

Asrial followed her sister until they reached her room and there, through a bookshelf, which Demona opened with her code, they went down into the secret area of the mansion.

Much to Asrial's surprise, the light of torches hanging on the wall illuminated the place, which she knew was at least one floor beyond the mansion's main level.

Her surprise would have faded at once if her quick mind hadn't noticed that something important was missing.

Where is the soot? Asrial asked herself.

When she stepped closer, she remembered a documentary she had seen once about there being no soot found in the buildings of the ancient Egyptians and that some weird scientists believed that they had actually used electric light for this.

Other scientists believe that they had used another way to make torches, which produced less soot... Asrial thought. Maybe this is one of them?

Her thoughts were stopped when she noticed that another important part was missing by these torches... They emitted no warmth?

Curiously, Asrial approached the strange flame with her right claw until she nearly touched it, still feeling no warmth and then went through it, much to her wonder, without any burning.

"They are magic torches." Demona, who had noticed what her sister was doing, explained. "They have no heat since they are mostly illusion, neither do they need oxygen."

"You can make such?" Asrial asked her surprised.

"Such, and better." Demona explained, shrugging her shoulders "These ones _burn _for years, really good ones can do it for decades."

"Why don't you simply use artificial light?" The clever sister asked Demona wondering.

"It would need electric energy from outside," the immortal explained, leaning against a wall, "or a generator. Both could reveal this floor to someone who searches for it."

Asrial stared at her sister.

"You really want to be careful, don't you?" she asked.

Demona simply shrugged her shoulders again.

"The centuries taught me to be so." she explained, her voice calm this time. "Come, I will show you my lab."

Asrial nodded and followed her sister through the corridor. Meanwhile, they past more torches and some closed doors except one, which the Clever Sister recognized through a quick glance as a training room.

"How many rooms are here?" she asked her rookery sister curious

"Not many." Demona replied while she came to stop at a door. "One is my private training room, but most just serve me as stores for my rather exquisite artifacts."

Asrial nodded, looking at her sister's back while she opened the door. Her sister seemed normal for this evening, cutting out the icy welcome, sane. Not as the insane, wicked monster she had heard of... or what she had imagined during the time she thought about her. Sure, she had been arrogant while speaking to the clan, but it had been a hard time for her, hadn't it?

"This is the place I usually practice magic in." Demona explained, extending her arms. "And I teach Jarred magic here."

Asrial looked around, studying the room. The light of the torches seemed dimmer here, illuminating a room, which seemed like the prototype of all wizards' chambers. On the shelves, stood decorated books, which Asrial recognized at once as very old.

On the desk below it, were a mortar and a dish, from which Asrial believed to smell sulpher coming from it. Looking further she noticed glasses on other shelves, filled with odd looking liquids and partly containing small bones, dried plants, minerals and much other things that Asrial couldn't identify.

The right table contained an alchemic device, covering nearly the whole table and reminding Asrial of her own workroom, back in Wyvern... before she had got a new one, much more scientific, from Xanatos.

Asrial looked back to Demona, who had just closed a book, which lay on a bookstand.

"It is really great here," the clever sister noted finally enthusiastically. "I always imagined the Archmage's room to look like..."

Asrial bit her lip, as the Archmage surely was not the best topic to talk about.

"Rooms of sorcerers mostly look alike." Demona explained, seemingly untouched by the comment of her former teacher. "At least, most of the ones I saw did so."

Asrial nodded and decided not to deepen this topic.

"You have an impressive home," she told her, "it's very large."

"This is why I purchased it decades ago." Demona said. "But I live just in the main and the first upper level. The three upper levels mainly serve as stock for some things I got a claw on over the centuries."

"Centuries..." the clever sister repeated, trying to come after the deeper meaning of this word. "What is it like, to live through a millennium?"

The immortal hesitated a second and then shrugged her shoulders.

"Like life is." Demona told her meaninglessly, in a nearly tired tone. "Some years pass fast, some not, things change and most stay the same."

"But..." Asrial continued restless. "All the time, the discoveries, the journeys, what you have seen..."

"Ha," Demona commented, staring ahead for a second as if to see another world. "I traveled from one part of the earth to another, just to find the same old game. Humans killing gargoyles, or humans killing each other."

Asrial sighed. Somehow there was no topic that they could truly talk about? She truly didn't want argue with her sister about...

"Like in Wyvern." Demona concluded, breaking through her sister's mind.

"It wasn't like that." Asrial replied. "We fought side by side with them."

"Oh yes, I remember," her sister noticed. "We were allowed to save their lives every time their soldiers proved to be weaklings and as a reward they treaded us with contempt."

"With time, this would have changed." Asrial told her, clenching her fists. "Goliath said..."

"Goliath is a fool..." Demona interrupted her sister. "The humans will never change."

"**STOP CALLING HIM A FOOL!!!**" Asrial screamed on the immortal, surprised by her own anger and the red glowing eyes. "He loved you and you betrayed him and broke him his heart... You have no right to offend him."

Demona seemed surprised too, never having suspected this by her clever sister and studied her somehow distantly.

"He is a good clan leader... the best." Asrial continued calmer. "Much better than you ever could be."

"Your _best leader_," Demona seemed to spit out these words, "let the humans treat us lower than dogs and defended them instead of standing up for his own kind."

"I never heard such complaints from other members of the clan." Asrial replied angrily. "It was just your pride that couldn't live so, just for your pride you betrayed us, Demona."

Demona smiled cruelly on her.

"Maybe you didn't notice or ask." she noticed. "Not everyone can hide themselves in a room, playing with their machines, Asrial. And not everyone wants to."

Asrial winced, feeling her stomach contracting as if the immortal had beaten her. Was it the shock of her sister's words? About the evilness, or maybe the spark of truth in them?

Asrial didn't know. All she knew was that she felt tears threatening to emit from her eyes. Even she couldn't say if it were tears of pain or tears of anger, but she fought them, not wanting to cry, not in front of her...

Demona opened her mouth and from the eyes still staring on her, Asrial could see that it would be no excuse. Either the immortal did not see the tears in her sister's eyes, or she did not care for them.

"Did you...?" she began, but never finished the sentences.

**Some minutes before, living room:**

Lana, watched by Shade, sat on the couch, looking through her magazine, studying photos and envying the models in it, some for the tan of their skin... or just the pinkness of it.

She groaned, placing the magazine beside her and stretched all her five limps.

Five limps, the gargoyle-turned human thought, studying her tail.

How could her brother enjoy being like this?

Not only had she to live so for six months, but also her mother, not to speak of her grandmother, had done nothing to change this. She couldn't even remember feeling the sun on her arms, just the tingling when her body changed to stone and the darkness following it.

She starred ahead, noticing Shade watching her.

great Darlene's daughter noticed cynically now even the monster dog is beginning to like me

Lana groaned again and leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes, just to relax and to forget her situation for a moment, remembering the fun she had had with her friends.

The knock she heard stopped this relaxing and brought her back to the present.

Not more visitors! Lana prayed, opened her eyes and looked to the veranda glasses.

No one stood there.

What the...? She thought, before her thoughts came to an end she saw Shade running into the floor and the knock came again.

The knocking came from the floor.

Lana stood up carefully, taking care that she didn't step on one of Gem's toys and went to the door.

She knew that maybe she should call her grandmother, since she had explained to them that someone at the front door would most definitely want to talk to Dominique Destine, and not to some gargoyles.

Lana hesitated, standing between the door, besieged by Shade and the stairs.

Taking a look won't kill me, will it? Lana thought, taking a look through the spy hole, just to see no one.

Surprised, she checked the monitor of the hidden cameras, but there was no one... nowhere in the whole entrance, and the gates to the mansion were closed.

Lana was going to go inform her grandmother when she discovered the packet lying in front of the door, being decorated with a beautiful, even though trashy, looking red ribbon.

That's it. Lana thought frustrated while opening the door. Now they even bring me presents.

She was going to open the door when Shade began to growl.

Surprised Lana looked on the scarred beast and then shrugged her shoulders.

"You have nothing to say here." She reminded Shade and went between the beast and the door.

Lana opened the door and carefully looked around while holding Shade back with her claws, but discovering nobody.

"Oh, a secret admirer." Lana noted cynically while closing the door behind her back and studying the packet. "Have you at least got good taste?"

As if to answer this Shade's growl rose by three points in the scale, but she was ignored.

The weight of the packet wasn't so heavy, Lana noticed while she unwrapped it. Having done so, she took a look in it.

**Some minutes before, living room:**

Lana, watched by Shade, sat on the couch, looking through her magazine, studying photos and envying the models in it, some for the tan of their skin... or just the pinkness of it.

She groaned, placing the magazine beside her and stretched all her five limps.

Five limps, the gargoyle-turned human thought, studying her tail.

How could her brother enjoy being like this?

Not only had she to live so for six months, but also her mother, not to speak of her grandmother, had done nothing to change this. She couldn't even remember feeling the sun on her arms, just the tingling when her body changed to stone and the darkness following it.

She starred ahead, noticing Shade watching her.

Great, Darlene's daughter noticed cynically, now even the monster dog is beginning to like me

Lana groaned again and leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes, just to relax and to forget her situation for a moment, remembering the fun she had had with her friends.

The knock she heard stopped this relaxing and brought her back to the present.

Not more visitors! Lana prayed, opened her eyes and looked to the veranda glasses.

No one stood there.

What the...? She thought, before her thoughts came to an end and she saw Shade running across the floor and the knock came again.

The knocking came from the floor.

Lana stood up carefully, taking care that she didn't step on one of Gem's toys and went to the door.

She knew that maybe she should call her grandmother, since she had explained to them that someone at the front door would most definitely want to talk to Dominique Destine, and not to some gargoyles.

Lana hesitated, standing between the door, besieged by Shade and the stairs.

Taking a look won't kill me, will it? Lana thought, taking a look through the spy hole, just to see no one.

Surprised, she checked the monitor of the hidden cameras, but there was no one... nowhere in the whole entrance, and the gates to the mansion were closed.

Lana was going to go inform her grandmother when she discovered the packet lying in front of the door, being decorated with a beautiful, even though trashy, looking red ribbon.

That's it. Lana thought frustrated while opening the door. Now they even bring me presents.

She was going to open the door when Shade began to growl.

Surprised Lana looked on the scarred beast and then shrugged her shoulders.

"You have nothing to say here." She reminded Shade and went between the beast and the door.

Lana opened the door and carefully looked around while holding Shade back with her claws, but discovering nobody.

"Oh, a secret admirer." Lana noted cynically while closing the door behind her back and studying the packet. "Have you at least got good taste?"

As if to answer this Shade's growl rose by three points in the scale, but she was ignored.

The weight of the packet wasn't so heavy, Lana noticed while she unwrapped it. Having done so, she took a look in it.

**Some minutes before, Gem's room:**

Thersities, guided by Darlene, with Gem in his arms, came to a room, which definitely had to be the hatchling's room... or better yet the nursery, since the clan's children all had their main living room in the rookery for the first few years of their life.

Darlene turned to him, carefully taking her dozing daughter out of his arms and laid her on the changing table. While Darlene removed the wet diaper, Thersities looked further around, noticing the wallpaper full of cute animals, the crib with the partly gnawed bars, the...

Thersities stopped, looking to the window.

Was there a movement out there? He asked himself, staring through the window into the night.

"Can you throw this away?" Darlene asked, bringing Thersities back to the present and letting him forget about the shadow, which had probably just been a bird.

Thersities starred on the wet diaper in Darlene's extended right claw for a second before he could overcome himself to grab it. Still unhappy with it, Thersities held the diaper with two of his claws, as far away from his face as possible, especially his nose.

After a short look, he discovered the trashcan and let the diaper fall into it, something that did not go unnoticed by Darlene.

Darlene cleaned Gem's sensitive skin around her base with a rag, humming softly to her daughter so that she could drift into a soft surrounding of sleep, and placed the fresh diaper on her.

Relieved about that she had changed Gem without letting her wake up, Darlene took her now dry daughter over to the crib, giving her a soft kiss on the forehead, before placing her down softly.

Darlene resister the urge to stroke her daughter's blond hair, so as not to wake her up, and gave her guest with her claw the hint to silently leave the room now.

When she had closed the door carefully behind her back, Darlene looked to Thersities.

"You haven't changed many diapers, have you?" she noticed.

"Welllll..." Thersities began, scratching his left arm with his right claw and looking affected. "In the clan, the rookery mothers do this mostly and I don't want to interfere in their business."

"So you think changing diapers is a job for the female?" Darlene asked, crossing her arms.

Thersities looked even more uncomfortable, now looking to the ground.

"It's okay," Darlene released him. "This duty seems to be avoided by most males in every race, including Paul..."

She became silent, looking away, not knowing what to say further when memories of the time with Paul overcame her anew.

Thersities looked at Darlene. He knew he had to say something, something to distract her, to cheer her up. He never came to say one word...

**To be continued.....**


End file.
